The present invention relates to a device for carrying various articles and a method for introducing and discharging various articles into and from container, in particular, dry container easily and speedily.
The present invention also relates to a pallet for carrying various articles into and from container, in particular, dry container.
Freight containers have been commonly used in transporting article by such transportation means as trucks, railroad cars, and ships, and those freight containers include types called dry containers. Dry containers are normally formed in rectangular box-shapes in order to be able to be loaded in transportation means easily as well as to protect article from external damage. Furthermore, box-shaped freight containers normally have only one side of their six sides, i.e., the smallest side at the rear, is provided as an opening for introducing or discharging. Therefore, in introducing the article to be transported into a dry container mounted on a container truck, it is first necessary for the article to be lifted to the floor height of the dry container using carrying equipment such as a forklift or a crane, then pushed or pulled into the dry container with the help of workers, lowered onto the floor of the dry container, and finally moved to a specified position.
However, if said article is heavy and bulky as in the case of large machines or industrial raw materials, the carrying equipment may not be capable of handling the article, so that a loading stage having the same height as the dry container floor is prepared and the article to be loaded is first placed on this stage temporarily using a crane, and then moved into the dry container using rollers and pinch bars.
On the other hand, in the case of loading heavy article carried on pallets, which are modularized based on the lengths of dry containers, e.g., 20 feet or 40 feet, it was extremely difficult to load heavy article to specified positions of the dry containers as the lengths of the containers are long and the storage positions of the pallets are physically restricted. Similarly, the work of discharging heavy article out of dry containers has been extremely difficult.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a device convenient for carrying article onto pallet into and/or from container.
It is further an object of the present invention to provide a method convenient for introducing article onto pallet into container.
It is further an object of the present invention to provide a method convenient for discharging article onto pallet from freight container.
It is further an object of the present invention to provide a pallet that improves work efficiency for introducing and discharging article into and from container, facilitates confirmation of orders of introducing article in preparation of introducing, and makes it easier to introduce and discharging even heavy and long article into and from freight container.
The invention will now be described following.
1. Device for carrying article into and from container being characterized in comprising: a stage that is positioned close to one end opening of a container placed at a specific location and has a floor surface with a height approximately equal to a height of a floor surface of said container; a stage-side displacement means that is capable of lifting up and down a pallet loaded with article to said floor surface of said stage and supporting said pallet in such a way as to allow said pallet to move horizontally while keeping said pallet lifted up to said floor surface of said stage; and a container-side displacement means that is capable of lifting up and down said pallet to said floor surface of said container and supporting said pallet in such a way as to allow said pallet to move horizontally while keeping said pallet lifted up to said floor surface of said container; wherein receiving said pallet while keeping said pallet lifted up to said floor surface of said stage or said container is possible between said stage-side displacement means and said container-side displacement means.
2. Device for carrying article into and from container according to above-mentioned 1 further comprising an external force application means for a pallet that causes said pallet, which is supported in such a way as to be able to move horizontally by said stage-side displacement means, to move toward said container-side by applying an external force.
3. Device for carrying article into and from container according to above-mentioned 1 further comprising an external force application means for a pallet that causes said pallet, which is supported in such a way as to be able to move horizontally by said container-side displacement means, to move toward said stage-side by applying an external force.
4. Device for carrying article into and from container according to above-mentioned 1 further comprising an external force application means that causes said container-side displacement means to move between said stage and said container by applying an external force to said container-side displacement means.
5. Device for carrying article into and from container according to above-mentioned 1 wherein said stage-side displacement means is a lifting/sliding device comprising a sliding member that supports said pallet in such a way as to allow said pallet to move horizontally and a lifting member that lifts said sliding member.
6. Device for carrying article into and from container according to above-mentioned 1 wherein said container-side displacement means is a lifting/sliding device comprising a sliding member that supports said pallet in such a way as to allow said pallet to move horizontally and a lifting member that lifts said sliding member.
7. Device for carrying article into and from container according to above-mentioned 5 or 6 wherein said sliding member has multiple rollers arranged in parallel to each other.
8. Device for carrying article into and from container according to above-mentioned 5 or 6 wherein said lifting member comprises an expanding member that is capable of pushing up said sliding member by expanding itself when air is introduced.
9. Device for carrying article into and from container according to above-mentioned 1 wherein said stage has said floor surface with a height approximately equal to a height of said floor surface of said container installed on the ground.
10. Device for carrying article into and from container according to above-mentioned 1 wherein said stage has said floor surface with a height approximately equal to a height of said floor surface of said container mounted on a chassis of a truck.
11. Device for carrying article into and from container according to above-mentioned 1 wherein said pallet comprises a pallet main body, a connecting means that connects said pallet main body with a pallet main body of other pallet(s), and a bottom open space, which is open in a carrying direction, underneath said pallet, and is capable of forming a pallet combination unit that approximately matches a size of a floor space of said container by connecting with other pallet(s) as needed.
12. Method for introducing article into container using said device according to above-mentioned 1, in particular,
a method for introducing article into container characterized in placing a pallet preloaded with article to be transported on a floor surface of a stage, lifting up said pallet to said floor surface of said stage, moving said pallet toward a container placed at a specific location while keeping said pallet lifted up to said floor surface of said stage, and finally lowering said pallet to a floor surface of said container.
13. Method for introducing article into container according to above-mentioned 12 wherein said pallet is moved while keeping said pallet lifted up to said floor surface of said stage by multiple rollers, which are arranged in parallel to each other and pushed upward when compressed air is introduced.
14. Method for introducing article into container according to above-mentioned 12 wherein said pallet comprises a pallet main body and a connecting means so that said pallet main body can connect with a pallet main body of other pallet(s) thus allowing to form a pallet combination unit by connecting with other pallet(s) that approximately matches a size of a floor space of said container, and said pallet combination unit is placed on said floor surface of said stage.
15. Method for discharging article from container using said device according to above-mentioned 1, in particular, a method for discharging article from container characterized in placing a container at a specified position relative to a stage, lifting up a pallet loaded with article to a floor surface of said container, moving said pallet toward said stage while keeping said pallet lifted up to said floor surface of said container, and finally lowering said pallet to a floor surface of said stage.
16. Method for discharging article from container according to above-mentioned 15 wherein said pallet is moved while keeping said pallet lifted up to said floor surface of said container by multiple rollers, which are arranged in parallel to each other and pushed upward when compressed air is introduced.
17. Method for discharging article from container according to above-mentioned 15 wherein said pallet comprises a pallet main body and a connecting means so that said pallet main body can connect with a pallet main body of other pallet(s) thus allowing to form a pallet combination unit by connecting with other pallet(s) that approximately matches a size of a floor space of said container, and said pallet combination unit is placed on said floor surface of said container.
18. Pallet for carrying article, in particular, a pallet comprising a pallet main body, a connecting means that connects said pallet main body with a pallet main body of other pallet(s), and a bottom open space, which is open in a carrying direction, underneath said pallet, and is capable of forming a pallet combination unit that approximately matches a size of a floor space of said container by connecting with other pallet(s) as needed.
19. Pallet for carrying article according to above-mentioned 18 wherein said connecting means is provided in a corner of an article-carrying surface of said pallet main body.
20. Pallet for carrying article according to above-mentioned 18 wherein said bottom open space is a space for storing a lifting/sliding device for moving said pallet while keeping said pallet lifted up.
The device for carrying article into and from container according to this invention makes it possible to introduce and/or discharge various kinds of article carried on pallet into and/or from freight container efficiently. Moreover, since the fastening and/or unfastening of article to pallets can be done outside the container, the otherwise cumbersome fastening and/or unfastening of article or the like inside the container can be reduced to a necessary minimum. Further, it makes it possible to prepare article in advance of introducing, realizing a more efficient introducing work of article.
The method for introducing article into container according to this invention makes it possible to introduce various kinds of article carried on pallets into container efficiently. Moreover, it makes it possible to prepare article in advance of introducing, realizing a more efficient introducing of article. Further, since the fastening of article to pallets can be done outside the container, the otherwise cumbersome fastening of article or the like inside the container can be reduced to a necessary minimum.
The method for discharging article from container according to this invention makes it possible to discharge various kinds of article carried on pallet from container efficiently. Moreover, since the unfastening of article from pallet can be done outside the container, the otherwise cumbersome unfastening of article or the like inside the container can be reduced to a necessary minimum.
The pallet for carrying article according to this invention makes it possible to handle various kinds of article by choosing connected or disconnected pallets, and as a result, it makes it possible to introduce and discharge article into and from container efficiently if this pallet is used. Moreover, since the pallet for article can be placed without wasting space in the container, the otherwise cumbersome fastening of pallet or the like inside the container can be reduced to a necessary minimum.